Endgame Labyrinths

Endgame Labyrinths (QC, 2023) is by Steffen Nielsen and Jacob Aagaard. The book is a successful, I feel, attempt to make endgame studies more attractive to new fans of the genre while remaining of interest to confirmed fans. It is 1,002 truncated positions designed to appeal to practical players. "A few years of extensive selection, analysis, reelection, reanalysis and refining have gone into putting together the study book for the practical player with the most value ever."It proved its entertainment worth on a couple of bus and metro rides, a hospital visit and a longish wait at the barber this morning. What more can you ask? Presentation is 6 positions on a page with solutions overleaf. No cheating! :) An attractive presentation and a comfortable heft are as we have come to expect from Quality Chess.There are 23 chapters of studies, each with an intro from the GM. They are preceded by some useful discussions about how and why the positions were chosen and an interesting look at the conventions of endgame studies and why these rules were sometimes broken for the book. You may, for example, have one that begins with a king in check or first move capture. I am loving this book.